748.

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The Peace of Evening. 12. II. 12. II.

OW calmly the evening once more is descending, As kind as a promise, as still as a prayer ; O wing of the Lord, in Thy shelter befriending, May we and our households continue to share ! 2. The sky, like the kingdom of heaven, is open : O enter, my soul, at the glorious gates; The silence and smile of His love are the token,

Who now for all comers invitingly waits.

3. We come to be soothed with His merciful healing;
The dews of the night cure the wounds of the day;
We come, our life's worth and its brevity feeling,
With thanks for the past; for the future we pray.
4. Lord, save us from folly; be with us in sorrow;
Sustain us in work till the time of our rest;
When earth's day is over, may heaven's to-morrow
Dawn on us, of homes long expected possessed.

749.

I.

Evening Prayer.

T. T. Lynch.

GOD, whose daylight leadeth down

Into the sunless way,

Who, with Thy sweet repose, dost crown

The labour of the day.

2. Take it, O Lord, and make it clean
With Thy forgiveness dear ;

That so the thing that might have been,
To-morrow may appear.

3. And when my thought is all astray,
Yet think Thou on in me;

That with the new unsullied day
My soul wake fresh and free.

C.M.

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4. And when Thou givest dreams to men,

Give dreams, O Lord, to me;

That even in visions of the brain

I wander towards Thee.

George Macdonald.

Light at Evening-Time.

THOU true life of all that live,

Who dost, unmoved, all motion sway,
Who dost the morn and evening give,

L.M.

And through its changes guide the day!

2. Thy light upon our evening pour ;
So may our souls no sunset see,
But death to us an open door

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To an eternal morning be.

1. Now

Evening.

Roman Breviary.

75.

OW that day its wings has furled,
And the earth has gone to rest,
Take me, Shepherd of the world,

Home to sleep upon Thy breast.
2. All the night from dream to dream,
Keep my spirit pure and bright;
Fill the darkness with the stream
Of Thine everlasting light.

3. If I waken, calm and fair

Be the thoughts that in me rise;
And Thy presence in the air

Make my heart a Paradise.

4. But if trouble in my heart,

Or fierce pain me restless keep,
Then to me Thy peace impart ;
Give to Thy beloved sleep.

5. So when morning, with his wing,
Wakens me to work and play,
I may rise with joy and sing-
"God has turned my night to day.

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753.

Stopford A. Brooke.

7S.

Week-Evening Service.

OT one day alone shall be

Given, O God of love, to Thee;
Work and rest alike are Thine;
Brighten all with love divine.

2. Through the passing of the week,
Father, we Thy presence seek :
'Midst this world's deceitful maze
Keep us, Lord, in all our ways.
3. O what snares our path beset !
O what cares our spirits fret!
Let no earthly thing, we pray,
Draw our souls from Thee away.

4. Thou hast set our daily task;

Grace and strength from Thee we ask ;
Thou our joys and griefs dost send ;
To Thy will our spirits bend.

5. Still in duty's lowly round,

Be our patient footsteps found;
With Thy counsel guide us here,
Till in glory we appear. Amen.

Week-Evening Service.

W. W. How.

BEHOLD us, Lord, a little space,

From daily tasks set free,

C.M.

754.

And met within Thy holy place
To rest awhile with Thee.

2. Around us rolls the ceaseless tide
Of business, toil, and care,
And scarcely can we turn aside
For one brief hour of prayer.

3. Yet these are not the only walls
Wherein Thou mayst be sought;
On homeliest work Thy blessing falls
In truth and patience wrought.

4. Thine is the loom, the forge, the mart,
The wealth of land and sea;
The worlds of science and of art,
Revealed and ruled by Thee.

5. Then let us prove our heavenly birth,
In all we do and know;

And claim the kingdom of the earth
For Thee, and not Thy foe.

6. Work shall be prayer, if all be wrought
As Thou wouldst have it done;

And prayer, by Thee inspired and taught,
Itself with work be one.

J. Ellerton.

Week-Evening Service.

'HE sun is gone, the long clouds break

1. THE

And sink adown his golden wake;
Behold us met, now work is done,

To seek Thy grace at evensong.

L.M.

2. Break to us, dealer of man's bread,
Food fresh from heaven as manna spread,
Lest of the poisonous fruits of death
Eat the sad soul that hungereth.

3. We would not meagre gifts down-call,
When Thou dost yearn to yield us all ;
But for this life, this little hour,

Ask all Thy love and care, and power.

4. Show us Thy pureness here, on earth ;
Into Thy kingdom give us birth.

We would not wish or dare to wait
In better worlds a better state.

5. But save us now, and cleanse us now;
Receive each soul, and hear its vow :
"My Father's God, on Thee I call,
Thou shalt be my God, and my All."

755.

Jean Ingelow.

I.

Evening Prayer.

AS darker, darker, fall around

The shadows of the night,

We gather here, with hymn and prayer,
To seek the eternal Light.

2. Father in heaven, to Thee are known
Our many hopes and fears,
Our heavy weight of mortal toil,
Our bitterness of tears.

3. We pray Thee for all absent friends,
Who have been with us here;

And in our secret heart we name
The distant and the dear.

C.M.